If you've been following VC news since the Wii was released, you might still remember that the ESRB rated a few titles before the Wii was even on store shelves. Games such as Super Mario RPG, Kirby's Dream Land 3 and more were all rated back in 2006.

About mid-2007 some of these games were mysteriously removed - Super Mario RPG, Kirby's Dream Land 3, Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Duck Hunt were all rated for VC one day and were gone the next. Super Mario RPG and Kirby's Dream Land 3 have of course since been rerated and actually released on the VC.

Yesterday the ESRB decided to remove more games which have been rated since the Wii came out - Aerofighters Assault, Beetle Adventure Racing, Hagane: The Final Conflict, Tin Star and Uniracers are now all gone. Sadly this probably indicates that they're not coming out on the VC anytime soon, so to reflect this, we've removed them from the site for now!

This also means there's now only two games left which have been on the ESRB since the Wii came out - Pilotwings and Pro Wrestling. Both of these games are by Nintendo, so there's almost no doubt they'll be released eventually, but it's a bit worrying that every single other game rated since launch is now gone.

What's so bad about having Aerofighters on the VC? There's at least a few fans who would want this game to come out on the VC. Besides, I think it's better to have it on VC rather than not have it on there.

Remember just because a title is no longer ESRB rated doesn't it won't come. Just look at Mario RPG it got taken off and it came on the VC a year later. I guess Ninty just want to put tthe games out at a later date.

i was disspointed about that. i love beetel adventuring racing that game i will miss because my all time best n64 i had so much fun with 4 player racing. i just love racing games. i just hope thy put it back on the list some time. hagane tinstar uniracers are not that good so i am not botherd just release b a r please it is a good game.

LittleMac doesn't get it does he? Its not the content of the game, its the running of the businesses who put out these games. Companies who once put games out may no longer exist or some companies may have a poor attitude to the Virtual Console in general. And some just change their minds about putting their games onto the VC just because of some reason or another - maybe they were treated badly by Nintendo or realised its not profitable for them to do so. I'm sure the actual game content has nothing to do with any of it.

The game content has alot to do with it. just look at the ratings. these games were not rated back when they were first released. ther were just classified under.... sports, arcade,action, etc... now you have to have a rating so little Johnny doesnt pick up (whatever game, example Elevator action) and start playing it and mom and dad see he is shooting people. and they start complaining just like everyone does when Grad theft auto comes out. its the same thing

Well this isn't the complete list of VC games yet to be released. There will be games that will be added later or come out unexpectedly (Star Tropics II). Less games on the coming soon list means its slightly easier to predict whats coming out soon.

Also, don't give up hope. When we least expect it, Nintendo may redeem themselves with quality games. We're still missing a lot of games like Majora's Mask and a few other gems out there. For people looking for a good game to try out, ToeJam & Earl is actually quite fun two players, even when we completed it, it's still fun to play to try to kill the boogiemen!

Actually if I remember correctly, wasn't there a story about how Nintendo wanted to keep the ESRB ratings hidden from their site until the games came out? Maybe they're gradually beginning to phase the games out of the system and put that plan into effect.

Well I would be really sad if Uniracers and Beetle Adventure Racing never show up on vc, but maybe it's just as SmaMan said and Nintendo just doesn't want people to know what's been rated, maybe they don't want anyone complaining about some rated game not coming out, who knows.

Well, the ESRB always rates games before they come out (Because it's required by law), but they sometimes simply don't actually add the ratings to their site until later, while other times they add the ratings long before the games are released.

Lets not forget that some games have been released on VC that no one saw coming. Like Pokemon puzzle league on N64. There was no mention on this site of it being rated by the ESRB yet one day it just showed up on VC, You never know, they might surprise us and put other games on there without warning.

Anyone see that new "The Wrestler" movie with Micky Rourke? There is a cool little homage to Pro Wrestling in it with his character playing a similar old Nintendo game that he was in from the 80's. Made me wonder when it would be coming to VC (!)

@Drake: I'm aware it's required by law to be rated, I was just mentioning that they don't always show up on the website before release. Yoshi's Story was rated on the Wii Shop the day it came out, but it just wasn't on the site so it was nice surprise that noone saw it coming

I just wanted them to somehow make the Zapper games work with the Wii Zapper. Especially since the Zapper actually has a following on the Wii. Not that I'd probably buy them since I own 11 of the 15 original NES Zapper games. But most people don't.

There's still a small amount of development time to get these games ready for VC. While yes, its so small they should do it, its there. And some games on VC are only going to sell like 500 times (or even less). Making developers go 'why bother' in comparison to something like Sonic that sells almost a million times. Espeically since they're also giving royalties to Nintendo per sale on a game they made 10-30 years ago.

But I agree, they should still put it up. Even if all they get is 500 dollars in return.

@LittleMac - You're an idiot. Your comment was removed for obvious reasons. You misspelled several words, you used inappropriate terminology, and you bashed liberals for something they are not entirely responsible for. The ESRB (something you misspelled) is an organization that rates games just like the MPAA rates movies. It is not replacing parenting, it is just a guideline for parents to follow since many parents don't know just by a title or box cover whether or not a game is appropriate for their child. Secondly, the ESRB has nothing to do with how fast Nintendo releases games, refer to Bass X0. Oh, and just to let you know, Jack Thompson is one of the most outspoken anti-video game activists, and he is about as right-aligned as you can get. He was disbarred for being annoying.

"just like everyone does when Grad theft auto comes out."

Indeed, Grand Theft Auto ought not to have a rating. How dare the ESRB appropriately gauge which age group should play GTA?!

@Drake and chunky_droid - Not sure where you heard that esrb ratings are required by law, but that's not the case. There have, however, been attempts to pass laws enabling legal enforcement of the rating. I have not heard of any that have had any sort of success at the federal level. The entire system from the board to retailers is voluntary, but it's in their best interest to support and self-enforce the ratings as to avoid the sort of government oversight and legislation that you refer to.

Oh, and Uniracers still has a decent chance as it was done by DMA (Rockstar) as a member of the 'dream team' of 2nd party developers for the 64 and published by Nintendo. Unlike Rare, DMA (Rockstar) has no real obstacle to saying yes. As for Beetle Racing, I LOVE that game. I wouldn't really count on it appearing on the VC though. EA would probably be down with it, but getting VW to renew a license for the new Bug in a game that has Bugs shattering on impact is unlikely due to the bug's high profile come-back since then. At the time the new bug was just hitting the scene and the game was a great marketing tool.

Ratings are not enforced, but for physical media, it's pretty much a nessecity, as big chains like Walmart and Target won't sell unrated games.Since every VC game is rated, I assume Nintendo won't put unrated games on the service either.

Actually, this story is wrong. The games in question were gone yesterday morning but they're up again.

I dont think I saw it mention but these 5 games stand out because they werent classified like all the other VC games were. The platform was listed as 'Nintendo' and not 'Wii' so it was pretty confusing.

Seriously, I checked the ESRB site & I still see the ratings for Hagane, Aerofighters Assualt, Beetle Adventure Racing, Tinstar, & Uniracers. I wonder how many times VC Reviews would say that several VC games' ratings are gone, yet they show up again hours later.

Well, I guess these games would probably still come out eventually, but Hagane will have to wait it's turn...for now.

...Don't say that about Faxandu...that's another game I hold dear to me... Zombies Ate My Neighbors will come out, one way or another. Nintendo has a lot of games they still could put out but it just depends on how much money Nintendo is willing to spend.

i hate to say it, but Nintendo should start focussing on a reward system like the 360s achievements or the ps3s trophies, that would help sell the VC games more as well as the retail ones. after all nothing sells like incentive. Maybe then we will get some of the bigger games on VC

Surely the problem nobody seems to be commenting on with BAR is that VW Beetle license. Wouldn't this make it rather unlikely from the outset?As for Uniracer/rally I've heard it also ran into problems over copyright infringment as its main character looked simikar to one in a CGI dreamworks/pixar thing that was out at the time

@ ness: We're probably just going to leave them off for now. If you check the ESRB you'll see their system is listed as "Nintendo", not "Wii" like the other two. Other sites agree they're probably not VC ratings.

Its true that these games are technically ESRB rated, but so is Majora's Mask and Mario Tennis.These games are not rated under the Wii section but under their original systems(like N64). So it's best to leave them off the coming soon list until they show up rated under the Wii section. The Wii ESRB listings are the best clue that a game will be released for the Virtual Console. However there are a few listings on the Wii ESRB list that are curious. No one is really sure if Sega's Super SF 2, Hudson's Star Parodier, or Interplay's Extreme Clayfighter 631/3 are mistakes or games that are considered for the VC.

No. What they need to do instead first is to be less strict to the 3rd parties that support the VC, so that the chances of any more of them leaving would be reduced. Not only that, but communicate more to the regular Wii Shoppers, do like what the JPN VC is doing & put up a list of games at the end of every month that're planned to come out next month in the Wii shop channel.

@clayfrdthere you have it folks.... another liberal !Crying and whining. i suppose you believe in the phrase..."it takes a village" lol what an idioti have the right to voice my opinion as everyone else just because you find it offensive you delete it, thats how liberals are

@47. Clayfrd: That whole GTA thing isn't because of what ESRB rates it, it is because everytime a GTA game is released hundreds of people who think games are a bad influence (when you could easily say the same thing for bugs bunny) want it taken of the shelves. You can't control what your kids are going to see (to a degree you can, but it won't last forever) or how they'll react to it. You just have to talk to your fackin kids instead of trying to sue every devoloper who decides to make a mature oriented game.

Also, those "misspelled" words are a common internet phenomena called "typo" or "typographical error". It's usually caused by people pressing the wrong key by accident and not because they have bad spelling. Look it up, I'm pretty sure there's a Wikipedia page on it.

Probably, there's a few other games that came out on VC (KDL3, Kirby 64, etc) before their VC version ratings were shown on the ESRB website. I think the VC games that were removed from the ESRB would still come out, but we'll have to wait a while for them & even longer for Hagane.

@LittleMac (74) "it takes a village" lol what an idiot i have the right to voice my opinion as everyone else just because you find it offensive you delete it, thats how liberals are Congrats on the longest run-on sentence I have seen on here in some time. You just proved yourself to once again be someone who can't prove their point and resorts to name calling and a blind rush to your right of free speech. Just cause you can doesn't mean you should.@ Shadx (75) I know you were being somewhat sarcastic but I also point out people's typos (and yes I make some) because the case is often that typos come from typing fast which can came from not thinking through what you're writing leading to dumb or rash comments. Obviously that's not always the case, but thats why some people (including me) can be harsh on people who frequently misspell or typo. I mean how credible is the quote I have above?

@Objection_Blaster: Oh, I know, I was just poking fun at clayfrd for making fun of LittleMac for bad spelling when it was obviously a typo. Granted LittleMacs last comment makes him look like the idiot.

I would really like to see Haunting: Starring Polterguy on VC, I loved that game SO freaking much, it took me a while to beat (Polterguy moved so fast it was hard to control him in the dungeons). I even went through the game trying to go into every possessable object possible, unfortunately I always ran outta Ectoplasm before I could finish the level.

Yeah, but it just sounds so...petty, when you insult a guys spelling. To me, it sounds like a nerdy version of insulting the way his mom dresses him - a petty, childish, and unnecessary insult that lessens your credibility rather than gaining any. Yes, that guy was being a dick, but still, at the very least you should be responding sensibly, if only to nullify the stupidity.

Its when someone else's opinion directly goes against the true facts as we know them. Or is thinking that the ESRB pulled the likes of Unirally due to questionable content within the game justified? We corrected him & he had a bad attitude at us for doing so.

I agree with Viral. Although i myself am very political and lean more on the conservative side (due to my upbringing in the US Air Force and my religious convictions), in this forum...politics does get us nowhere. The thing I love about gaming is that even when I may have strong differences with some of my friends on political issues...as cheesy as it sounds...gaming does bring us together. It is when we are gaming and just having a good time that we throw our differences out the window and enjoy our "hobby" (if you will). Anyways, liberals and conservatives UNITE. The enjoyment of videogame entertainment is one issue we can all agree on

Or, perhaps they were going to be released, but Nintendo just ended up putting them in the Queue, and the publishers got tired of waiting for their release and pulled them. That sounds like a very plausible reason to me.

@Littlemac. PLEASE don't start another opinion-based argument on this site. We seem to get those every other thread.

And by the way, the phrase is "It takes a village idiot", not "It takes a village".

@Shadx. I'm dying to see a Wiiware Duckhunt too, maybe as part of a 3-in-one game with an updated Hogan's Alley and Wild Gunman as well. The closest thing I ever got to playing DH was the shooting gallery game in Wii Play.

@LittleMac - Well... I may as well quote the whole thing..."@clayfrdthere you have it folks.... another liberal !Crying and whining. i suppose you believe in the phrase..."it takes a village" lol what an idioti have the right to voice my opinion as everyone else just because you find it offensive you delete it, thats how liberals are"

1. I think Liberal is a term of endearment. Oh, is that word to big for you? Look it up.2. I was neither crying nor whining; I was calling you an idiot, idiot.3. I didn't delete your comment. Those that run the site did because it was slanderous, rude, and completely uncalled for. Crude language doesn't prove a point, is inappropriate, and is deleted when used in excess. We liberals had nothing to do with games not being released or with your impish and flat out rude comment being removed. Now go admire your poster of The Dub and leave us all alone.

As I've already said uniracer/rally was pulled due to a law suit with Pixar who claimed the game stole designs from one of there animated films "big red's dream".By "questionable content" Little Mac may actually have a point, it depends on your definition of "questionable".The game contained several barbed and coded insults to Sega and Sonic the Hedgehog and Nintendo may not wish to offend a company it now has an excellent working relationship with as well as a product it actively sells.Either way the game will never reappear so there's little point in discussing it further.

@post 98I don't have any screenshots, but having played the game several years ago, I think that if you tried to enter your name as Sega or Sonic, you'd get a response of it not being cool or good enough. It's a small dig, of course, but there are probably more in there.

As I say it isn't the only reason, do a quick google search on Uniracer/rally and Pixar and you'll find it mentioned on several websites.there's nothing "so called" about the lawsuit, it happened and the game was pulled off the shelves. That will be enough to keep it off vc but the sonic and sega bashing won't help (if I recall there was even an ultra slow "hedgehog" mode)

@Mickeymac (84) Yeah, but it just sounds so...petty, when you insult a guys spelling. To me, it sounds like a nerdy version of insulting the way his mom dresses him - a petty, childish, and unnecessary insult that lessens your credibility rather than gaining any. The only difference is that a person is in control of their own typing As for replying sensibly, it takes a sensible comment to reply sensibly. In all seriousness, nit-picking every little error here and there is a #$%y thing to do, but when entire comments are filled with what can barely be referred to in quotes as "English" I think the only credibility being lost is the person "Spelling." Of course, however you feel on the issue is fine with me.

They removed certain codes from VC games, perhaps they could remove the insults somehow? Also, I believe it said "Not cool enough" when you entered Satan or sh*t as well.

Back then, sonic was a whole lot cooler than Mario, but then he got knocked down, but he'll get up again, you ain't never gonna keep him down ............. Of coarse he never got knocked down IMO. He always ruled.

@Mickeymac: I read what I type before I post Just to make sure I don't sound like an idiot or there aren't any spelling errors.

I won't be surprised if most of the games that were just removed from the ESRB show up on a much later date on the Wii VC & the ESRB, but we'll probably have to wait a LONG time for Uniracers. Around years at least!

Again, they're still making money off the remakes, even the totally redundant PSP ones. While there is a chance that the original Final Fantasy will appear on the Wii by the end of it's life cycle you'd have to crazy to think that FF4 or 6 will ever appear on the VC, and you'd have to be just plain stupid to think that the Jap-only games will ever appear on the VC.

Still if Final Fantasy does come to the VC, I will buy it in a heartbeat, if only because I find that the first Final Fantasy is only one worth owning (with the possibly exception of FF5, and FF10 being a rental at best), yet so far I've been far too cheap to actually do so. At $5, though, I'd have to be nuts to not give it a DL.

EDIT: By the way, that post was completely left-field. Not a bad thing I suppose, but still, it boggles me for a moment as I tried to figure out how you came up with Final Fantasy with this discussion (and if that made no sense, that's because I'm typing this at 3 in the morning...again).

On the subject of Final Fantasy, I don't get Square not releasing the NES Final Fantasy game on VC. Its been ported and remade recently, yeah - for the GBA and for the PSP. I don't see how a VC release of NES Final Fantasy will affect the sales of these two. The GBA version shouldn't be an issue since its no longer for sale. And the PSP version is on a handheld that isn't Nintendo's and that too would have sold all the copies its going to sell. If Square isn't making any more money from Final Fantasy 1 then releasing the NES version on VC should actually make them money rather than lose it. Thats my opinion.

To everyone saying the insults shouldn't be enough to keep unirally/racer of VC. You're all still not acknowledging the lawsuit.that's the main thing that will keep it off VC but the Sonic and Sega comments won't help.As far as FF goes I'd much rather Square Enix got on with releasing the Soul Blazer trilogy which I expected to come after Actraiser's early release tested the water for old Enix releases.

@ Betagam7 - I actually mentioned the Beetle License way up in comment 48, but I dropped the ball on the Uniracers lawsuit. I totally forgot about that. Maybe because I got my copy before it was pulled

^yeah, it's definitely there. The most noticeable example is Zelda: Ocarina of Time which had a bare-minimum framerate to begin with (I have the Zelda Collection anyway, but I tried the demo of the emulation on SSBB), now looks downright choppy--consistent, but choppy.

114. Bass X0 19 Jan 2009, 11:49 GMTYeah, I'd rather have Illusion of Time than Final Fantasy 1.

Yeah i second that, brilliant game. I thought i'd play it the other night, but couldnt find it amongst my snes carts. Then a horrible hazy memory dawned that I sold it. I bought it on ebay then sold it on ebay... can't quite remember what possesed me to do that.

Well, I have the February edition of the OFFICIAL magazine of Nintendo in my country, and includes a review of Beetle Adventure racing for VC. Is not the first time that they make a review a few days before a specific VC game go to be released, and in the article they coment that the game "is avaiable now" (February = Now). By this reason im sure at 100% that beetle Adventure racing will come to america in february and maybe in europe. Remember this!!